The Lost Childhood – Germany’s Decline in the International Comparison of Child Well‑Being

It is a grim image painted by the UNICEF report Innocenti Report Card 19 – an image that shows children in Germany far removed from the sense of security that still dominates the country’s public self-image. In a world shaken by pandemic, climate crisis, and social upheaval, the situation of the youngest has deteriorated in many wealthy nations. But while countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, or France managed to stay on course amidst the turmoil, Germany has slipped – to an alarming 25th place out of the 43 countries studied.

The report measures child welfare along three dimensions: mental health, physical health, and basic skills. Germany does not perform well in any of them. The biggest gap is in the area of skills – school and social competencies – where Germany ranks a bitter 34th place, with only nine countries behind it. While Ireland (1st place) or Slovenia (2nd place) show what targeted educational and social policies can achieve, Germany seems unable to even keep up. In physical health, Germany reaches 14th place – better than average, but far behind France (2nd), Switzerland (7th), or Portugal (10th). In mental health – such as life satisfaction or youth suicide prevalence – Germany sits in the middle with 18th place – a worrying finding for a country that sees itself as child-friendly.

The five best-ranked countries – the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Portugal, and Ireland – stand out for balanced results in all three areas. The Netherlands ranks 1st in mental health, France 2nd in physical health, Ireland 1st in skills – showing that it is very much possible to create stable conditions for children in the midst of multiple crises. These countries invest in education, early childhood support, psychological care – and they do so not sporadically, but systematically and over the long term.

Germany, on the other hand, is caught in structural stagnation. The COVID-19 pandemic led to 38 weeks of school closures – more than in France, Switzerland, or the Netherlands. The impact on learning behavior, mental strain, and social isolation is obvious, and the report makes clear: the consequences are not yet overcome. At the same time, the share of overweight children has increased, life satisfaction has decreased – and inequality has grown. Because as the report emphasizes: not all children are equally affected. Children from low-income families, single-parent households, or with a migration background carry the main burden of this development. Nearly one in six adolescents in the countries studied lives with a diagnosed mental illness – and the number is rising. And even if Germany is not at the very bottom, the real tragedy is that it is not stopping the trend – it is reinforcing it.

In a country that prides itself on progress, every fifth child lives in poverty. Not metaphorically. Not as a feeling. But in reality. Three million children and adolescents in Germany grow up under conditions that turn the word “future” into a farce. It is a scandal in plain sight – and a systemic failure that has long become normalized. Because child poverty is not a mishap. It is deliberate – the result of policies that manage structural inequality instead of eliminating it. Policies that preach budget discipline rather than implement justice. The truth is: Germany is saving money on childhood. On the well-being of those who have no lobby, make no headlines, cannot protest – but form the backbone of tomorrow's society.

The figures from 2024 speak a language that cannot be sugarcoated: nearly 40 percent of foreign children in Germany live on basic income support. Among German children it is 7.6 percent – still too many, but a clear sign of a structural imbalance that can also be read ethnically. Children with a migration background carry the double stigma of origin and poverty – and pay for it with opportunities, health, and joy in life. How is a child supposed to learn that they are equally valued when their family cannot afford fresh fruit because the benefit rates allow only four to seven euros per day for food? When the children's bedroom becomes the only retreat – and that room does not even exist? When birthday parties, pool visits, or school trips are just stories others tell? This poverty is not individual failure. It is the result of political decisions. Because children are poor when their parents are poor. And those parents often work – too much, too poorly paid, without security. Single. Discriminated. Ill. Stranded in a system that defends more than it enables. Poverty is passed on – not just materially, but emotionally, culturally, socially. A deficit that burns itself into life stories that never had the same chance. The big answer is supposed to be basic child support. A concept that bundles, simplifies, and raises benefits. But so far it remains a promise. Much is on paper, little is enacted. Meanwhile, prices are rising – bread, bell peppers, orange juice – one percent after the other, and each increase means: one less day of being full for some families.

Those who want to preserve social peace must abolish child poverty. Not tomorrow. Today. Because a country that betrays its children loses more than wealth – it loses itself. In statistics, in silence, in the thin line between ignorance and indifference. Child poverty is not a force of nature. It is a political will – or its absence. And as long as that doesn't change, every appeal is a lie, every poll an excuse, every government change a cosmetic maneuver. Because those who accept silence about child poverty accept a two-tier generation of children. And that is not just unjust. It is unbearable.

And for those who think this is just a rough statistical estimate – they are wrong. The numbers exist. They are meticulously broken down – by age, origin, level of education, region, and household type. And they tell an even darker story than the official situation suggests. In 2023, according to EU-SILC, about 14.0 percent of all children and adolescents under 18 in Germany were at risk of poverty – that corresponds to about 2.1 million young people. But the average conceals reality. Children from educationally disadvantaged households – meaning families where parents have no vocational qualification – are particularly affected at 36.8 percent. If the parents have a higher degree, such as a university diploma, the risk drops to just 5.8 percent. Education, it turns out, protects – but only if you can afford it. Single mothers form another hotspot: about 24 percent of them receive basic income support – and live permanently in precarious conditions with their children. The risk is particularly high in single-parent households with multiple children. And it is here that several poverty factors often overlap – low education, part-time jobs, health burdens, discrimination. Family size also plays a key role: in large families with three or more children, the risk is especially high – according to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, about 50 percent of all poor children in 2022 grew up in such households. The migration factor remains especially serious: children with a migration background were recently affected at a rate of around 28 to 30 percent – more than twice as often as children without a migration background (13–14 percent). The situation is even more severe for foreign children without German citizenship: around 39.7 percent of them received basic income support in 2023 – compared to only 7.6 percent among German children. This poverty is not fog – it is mappable, with clear contours. We know where it lives, what it looks like, whom it belongs to. The data are there, openly available. The only question is: does anyone really want to look?

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